Tracking the Tigers with MLB.com beat writer Jason Beck.

Tuesday’s lineups: Tigers vs. Athletics

The splits on A’s left-hander Tommy Milone aren’t very strong. In fact, they’re slightly reversed this year, with lefties batting .289 off of him compared to a .257 average from right-handed hitters. With that in mind, and with Justin Verlander on the mound, Alex Avila returns to the starting lineup. Omar Infante moves up to sixth in the lineup; Leyland calls it a matchup decision.

TIGERS (career numbers off Milone)

Austin Jackson, CF (1-for-8, 2 K’s)

Torii Hunter, RF (3-for-4, HR, walk)

Miguel Cabrera, 3B (4-for-8, walk, K)

Prince Fielder, 1B (2-for-8, walk, 2 K’s)

Victor Martinez, DH

Omar Infante, 2B (2-for-7, walk, 2 K’s)

Matt Tuiasosopo, LF

Alex Avila, C

Jose Iglesias, SS

P: Justin Verlander

ATHLETICS (career numbers off Verlander)

Coco Crisp, CF (9-for-30, HR, 4 K’s)

Josh Donaldson, 3B (3-for-13, 2 walks, 2 K’s)

Jed Lowrie, SS (1-for-5, 2 walks, 2 K’s)

Brandon Moss, RF (1-for-11, walk, 5 K’s)

Yoenis Cespedes, LF (3-for-9, walk)

Seth Smith, DH (2-for-14, HR, 5 walks, 4 K’s)

Alberto Callaspo, 2B (4-for-17, 2 walks, 4 K’s)

Daric Barton, 1B (2-for-12, 4 walks, 5 K’s)

Stephen Vogt, C (0-for-3)

P: Tommy Milone

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69 Comments

Have tickets for tonight. ..not going going to head down looks like a whole lot of rain coming. Don’t feel like sitting in the rain or waiting out a rain delay. That being said I hope they play and win and JV proves me wrong. ..

If our rotation struggles here on out—we’re hooped.
JV won’t make the HOF unless he starts to learn how to throw strikes and how to master a 2 seam fastball. I think he can adjust but I’m not sure he will adjust.

JV, JV, your golden arm will not be enough to get you through. You have to become a strike throwing machine and you have to be adaptive and smarter.
That 1st inning could have been a lot worse. We will need some solid production today from supporting cast. Prince is supporting cast now, too. He is not a lead character any longer.

Oh, Victor. I guess we should be happy you didn’t hit into a triple play the way you were pulling that ball down to Donaldson. It could well have been done with those particular runners on and you .
Not complaining about VMart just wondering why we have the kind of team that just can’t seem to stomp the other pitcher when they are mpst vulnerable.

It will never cease to boggle my mind how left handed pitchers get certian pitches called strikes that if a right handed pitcher throws a pitch in the exact same spot it’s called a ball.
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So much for JV getting his act together, guess I spoke too soon.

Upset that we let Milone off the hook in the 1st. Too many times this year we’ve done that.
JV needs to re-invent himself. The 4 seamer has lost its effectiveness. They can colour this any way they want but you can probably count on one hand the 100 MPH fastballs this year. He is now 96 or 97 when he is amped up and 93 generally. 4 seamers with no movement get clobbered at this level.
He needs a cut fastball or a 2-seamer with some action on it. And he needs to throw strikes an put pressure on hitters again.
This team looks not so good tonight against a very hittable southpaw.

Never went tonight. So if not wanting to sit in the rain for 4 hours makes me a bad fan I guess the other 30 games I go to dont count. .But last night I did leave early, I was tired, annoyed with the poor pitching, 2 innings of stranding bases loaded. Id been up since 5 and was getting up at 5. But glad you feel comfortable in judging my level of dedication ti the Tigers. If Watching ever single game makes me a bad fan then I guess I am.

Is that comment directed towards me because I said I felt bad for 2E? If so I’m not sure why you would say that. I like his story and I feel bad that he’s not had the same success he was having earlier this year.

I read another theory and I can’t remember where that because he picked up catching late his reaction times are a little slower so things bounce or glancing deflections that maybe other catchers catch because his reaction times are slower he takes a beating.

Whats your problem? I like him I want him to succeed but he’s having a hard time I feel bad for him.
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So other on here made negative comments tonight and every night but you only seem to be a jerk to me. If they are not playing well im not going to continue to just pat them on the back im not a cheerleader.

Whit Avila: 49-24. But correlation does not mean causation. He plays mostly against RH and the Tigers are just 20-18 vs LH. And he was on DL when a regression was due after along winning stretch . They went 5-8 with Peña.
Still Avila´s WAR is 0.0 vs 0.5 for Peña

What can Jones do to get JV back to his April arm slot before JV tinkered with his mechanics in May and went into this tailspin of home runs and walks? I know I have been on JV this season but he is not the style of pitcher “D” needs in CoPa. i really would like to see DD get some talent in return for him this year. His best yrs are behind him!

I think we have all seen pitchers turn things around after a bad season. And I would not hesitate to call it just that for JV this year.
He has star power and so does Fielder. They may already be priced out of the market but if anyone showed interest in either of them, I think DD should jump on a deal. I believe Miggy has captured the hearts of Detroiters. Somehow they gotta keep him. Kudos to him after having those unfortunate and immature incidents a few years ago. He has regained admiration and respect. Not easy to do.
Free up some money, move Miggy back to 1st. Get some youth, pop and speed in the OF. Concentrate on building a bullpen based on experience and not just hopeful arms.
And , oh yeah, get Smyly in the rotation! He’s being wasted in the pen and seems to be losing interest.
I really thought the umps should have waited a bit before starting that 5th inning.
Granted our guys didn’t look like they were gonna be in the game after letting Milone get away with being brutal in the 1st.
This is a very important time for our team. They can’t slip into poor play again.
Another clunker tomorrow and I will be very worried.

What a wet night. At least i got a sloppy hat. Err floppy hat. Verlander? What can i say. Its time to send him to bullpen and let smyly start a few. Although the ump was not his friend tonight. At least a dozen balls that were strikes imo. Or very close.

The game never should of started…..if you don’t think you can get a game in there is no way you should start it. Anybody who would of looked at the radar and listened to the forecast it was going to rain, rain hard and rain for a long time. From my understanding it is the home teams decesion whether to start the game but the umps decision after it starts when and if to stop or restart it, If that’s true and I think I’m right they all screwed up.

Well last night was ugly all the way around. JV is off this year, I truly feel he can get back his magic but they have to figure out how to fix it first, he is walking way too many guys and giving up the long ball too often, but I am not stating anything new. The guy has been amazing for us and being the bleeding heart that I am feel he will get it turned around, just not sure it will be this season when we really need him. I was impressed with us scoring in the first, after JV was out there so long often times our guys don’t work the pitcher but they did. Prince came through in a huge way as well. Those are some of my positives from last night.

I agree with Tiger Girl, I’m not ready to give up on JV and certainly not ready to trade him. He is definately having an off year but we know what he is capable of and I believe that he will get it back. I may be in the minority but he has been very valuable to us over the years. I’m going to the game on Sunday when I believe he is scheduled to pitch. Maybe I will bring him some luck :) I was at his no-hitter in 2007 and I’ve seen him pitch several times with winning outcomes. On the bright side, Cleveland lost so no change in the standings.

I thought for sure the Tigers would let him become a free agent instead of signing him for that huge contract. He likes the bright lights, big city. But, with 2 no hitters, CY, MVP and him telling everyone his goal was to be in the HOF, the Tigers would certainly want him to go in as a Tiger. That’s why I think they gave him that contract. He might thrive in NY or LA. Just my opinion, though.

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